“Until last year,” he said, watching the smoke vanish into the rain, “I was still able to make my way to the top of the Jack o’Lantern. For a young man in tip-top physical condition, it is no more than a pleasant stroll, but for a fossil in a wheelchair, it is torture. “But then, to an old man, even torture can be a welcome relief to boredom, so I often made the ascent out of nothing more than spite.
